3.9    THE CONCLUSION OF UTPATTI-PRAKARAṆA

Or the chapter on origin

Summary. This chapter summarizes all that was said in the previous stories as to the origin of the mind and the universe.

It is the actions of the mind that are truly termed karmas. True liberation results from the disenthrallment of the mind. Those who have freed themselves from the fluctuation of their mind come into possession of the supreme Niṣṭā (meditation). Should the mind be purged of all its impurities, then it will become as still as the milky ocean undisturbed by the churning of Mandara hills; and all our Saṁsāric delusion attendant with its birth and deaths will be destroyed.

Muni Vasiṣṭha continued: “The poisonous tree of the great Māyā’s illusion flourishes more and more, out of the seed of the mind’s modifications full of Saṁkalpa, in the soil of the variegated enjoyments of the world. The panacea prescribed by the wise for the removal of the diseases of the mind can be got at very easily through the mind alone. Now hearken to what I say. Those who without longing for objects avoid them, can be termed the subjugators of their Manas (mind). Those who do not develop the painless Vairāgya inhering in one’s Self and that with great facility and happiness, are at best but vermin in human shapes. If the mind be divested of the Saṁkalpa of ‘I’, then through the meditation of Ātma after being initiated by a guru and having known the real significance of the Vedas given out by the Lord, the mind can be turned back from the pains generating externals into the internals where it can be made happy. Like one iron shaping another iron, the pure mind of a person which makes efforts in the virtuous path, should correct and mould his impure mind. To lovers of Mokṣa in whom the invincible desires take a tangible shape and who try to win their way up to Liberation through their own efforts, the easy abandonment of their dire mind is itself their transcendental path and they then feel as if a great load were off their heads. No other path is truly beneficial.

If the mind which flits from one object to another, is slain with the sword of non-Saṁkalpa, then will, the self-shining Principle, which shines as the all and permeates them all, be cognized. May you, Oh Rāma, tread this path and destroy, through your Jñāna the much-longed for mind; and after attaining Ātma Jñāna through the renunciation of all, devoid of Saṁsāra and Vikalpas, know your Reality wherein the mind is merged. May you rest in the self-existent Brahmic state which is neither Sat nor Asat. after developing with great difficulty the process of Sravaṇa and others and destroying the mind. It is only through dauntless energy that the painless wealth of Mokṣa can be acquired. With the destruction of the mind1, all the three periods of time vanish into nothing. If all objects which have an enchanting appearance become eyesores and present the very reverse of the former feelings, then is the mind destroyed.

If all doubts vanish through the discus of spiritual knowledge arising through the meditation of Jñāna in the heart, then it is the mind will be destroyed. All the excessive afflictions will cease with its destruction. The (ideas of) differentiations of that or this person, or ‘I’ or ‘Thou’ or that or this object are (or do pertain to) mind only. May you put an end to that mind with the sword of Abhāvanā (non-thought). Like thick clouds that are dispersed through stormy gales, the mind will get absorbed into Chit (absolute consciousness) through the extinction of Kalpanas (thoughts). If one’s mind is destroyed, then will one not suffer from pains even though, as at the end of a Kalpa, the fierce winds, the Pralaya ocean with its furious bubbling waves and the twelve Ādityas (suns) smelting even the earth with their heat should all combine together to simultaneously play their havoc on the surface of the earth? If the (lower) mind is done away with through the (higher) mind alone, then will one become his own Self and perennial happiness will flow therefrom as in the case of the Universe. Then will you be in the full acquisition of Mokṣa and reach the Brahmic state of surpriseless bliss. Now the enemy of Ātma is this impure mind only, which is replete with the wealth of excessive delusion and hosts of thoughts. Lest this enemy of mind should spoil you in diverse ways through the enjoyments of the many pleasures in this world, slay it in the hope of getting contentment in the long run which will pave your way towards spiritual illumination. Then will the immaculate, cool and all-full Bhāva (state), dear unto the wise never be affected by the idea of ‘I.’ Though this all-full Bhāva, which is neither capable of increase nor diminution, the Brahmic state free from births and conferring supreme bliss, becomes the imperishable one. It is indeed rare to find a mind that is not affected by its contact with fluctuation. Like heat inseparable from fire, fluctuation which debases the mind is inseparable from it. The power of fluctuation or motion of Jñāna is the mind itself. And this fluctuating mind alone is this universe; devoid of this fluctuation, the mind ceases to exist. It is this certain conviction that constitutes a Tapas without a desire of its fruits, the underlying meaning of all Ātma-jñāna books and the immaculate Mokṣa or the illuminated One Principle. This fluctuating power of the mind is dubbed with several names such as Māyā, the impure Vāsanās and others. The flitting mind is no other than the fluctuating Śakti itself. It is this fluctuating potency of the mind that you should destroy through ceaseless Ātma-jñāna enquiry.

Supreme bliss will flow from the renunciation of all attractions towards the much-longed for paltry objects. The mind which occupies an intermediate state between Brahman that ever is and the universe that is not, ever oscillates gravitating towards the one or the other. This mind becomes of the nature of Jñāna through dint of the efforts towards spiritual direction; but becomes of the nature of the universe through Ajñāna. Through its own efforts, the mind assumes the shape of any object it concentrates itself upon. Therefore you should, through your Ātma-jñāna mind, avoid the mind which runs in the direction of objects; and progressing higher up, should, without any despondency of heart, accumulate wealth for that imperishable Supreme state. Like an emperor who brings under his sway all kings on earth, the fluctuating mind should be brought under the perfect control of the non-fluctuating mind and then the latter reaches its own state which is the Supreme one.

In this ocean of Saṁsāra, those only find a safe asylum in the vessel of their mind who are conscious of their being whirled about in this Maelstrom of life with the grip of the crocodiles of desires fully upon them. Let not your heart give away under your trials; but having done away with the impure mind through the pure mind, befriend the latter and make your Ātma rest in its blissful state. Will your mind progress through anything else? Certainly not. Whatever pains or impediments to progress arise in the mind, there at the very moment they should be crushed out of existence; then is the destruction of Māyā accomplished. Having divested yourself of all longings for enjoyments and conceptions of heterogeneity as well as the two, Bhāva (existence) and Abhāva (non-existence), may you enjoy heavenly bliss without any the least stain. Should all longings for visible things cease, then such an abnegation of mind is itself the destruction of Ajñāna or the mind. Desires of objects are them selves pains; but non-desires are themselves Nirvāṇic bliss. Such a bliss is generated through one’s efforts only. The knowledge of the ignorant which makes them conceive the world to be real, while it is illusory and exists but in name, is dissipated as unreal when they cognize all things to be Consciousness per se.

At these words of Vasiṣṭha, Rāma queried him thus: “How can this ignorance which fructifies out of the wealth of Avidyā in this world, be effaced clean off from here? Please favor me with your elucidation on this point.” To which Vasiṣṭha of powerful Tapas replied thus: “If the eternal Ātma is hurled on the slopes of the hills of dire rebirths, beset with the sharp thorns of excruciating pains, and if Māyā which is associated with the Ātma there be seen as real, then it is certain that no Tattvic Vision (or vision of the Reality) will arise. If the all-pervading transcendent Reality, after the Avidyā of rebirth is crossed, should begin to illumine a person, then it is he will perceive objectively that desires are the form of perishable Māyā and that the mere extinction of Māyā is Mokṣa. With the extinction of the base Saṁkalpas, there is the extinction of Avidyā. With the drawing of the sun of Jñāna in the heart, the dark gloom of Ajñāna resting therein will at once take to its heels.”

Here Rāma interposed and said: “Thou wert pleased to say that all visible things are but Māyā; also that Māyā will perish without any hindrance through Jñāna or Ātmic meditation. What is Ātma?”

To which Vasiṣṭha of immeasurable Tapas replied thus: “It is the transcendental Jñāna of Brahman which does not manifest itself objectively in the visible things; it is the Plenum, and the one that is, possessing no name. All the things in the world that are pointed out as this or that are no other than the eternal Brahman of the nature of Jñāna. The illusory stainful mind is not. All things such as birth and death in the three worlds are not really in them; nor are the six changes. ((The six changes are: genesis, existence, alternation, growth, decay and destruction.)) But the non-dual Absolute Consciousness which can be known by its pervading nature is alone objectively existent. Out of that Jñāna-Ātma which is absolute, self-shining imperishable, immaculate, all-pervading, impartite with Jñāna alone and without the least pains and quiescent, and which commingling with all objects is yet unaffected by them, arose through its own power an intelligence generated through its desire of Saṁkalpas. This Jñāna generating countless Saṁkalpas permeates all. This intelligence constitutes the mind of Brahman itself. In this Brahman are infinite Śaktis. In this fleeting mind which pervades equally in all without a second, arise the diverse supreme Śaktis like waves in water. This mind which arises through Saṁkalpa perishes through it alone like a flame of fire which, though fanned by wind, is yet extinguished by the same. The non-cognition of oneself as Brahman which is the Laya (neutral) centre of all, is itself the bondage of the mind; but the firm cognition of oneself as Brahman is itself Mokṣa. The conception as real of ‘I’, Ajñāna, pains and the forms of bodies having limbs, etc., and the conduct of life in accordance thereto, generate desires and bondage; but if such thoughts arise in persons as ‘I am not these inert objects, I am neither the flesh nor nerves, nor bones nor ulcer water, etc.,’ and if they identify themselves with Brahman which is beyond all bodies, then only they disentangle themselves from the folds of Māyā and become the knowers of their own Self. The base Māyā of Ahaṅkāric conception which arises through the identification of ‘I’ with bodies and others is gifted with a living reality only through the fancy of the ignorant, but to the wise this Māyā is non-existent. Like a minister obeying a king, the five organs of the body act in accordance to the dictates of the mind. Therefore you should, through your own pure mind and proper efforts, eradicate the Vāsanās of desires for objects. All the Vāsanās which are generated in one through his identifying himself with his sons or wealth or creating the differences of ‘I’, ‘he’, ‘thou’, ‘this’ or ‘that’, do wax more and more like Indrajāla (psychological trick) which is as ephemeral as lightning. Having become the beneficent knower and relinquished all Ajñāna qualities, may you abandon all thoughts of the visible things. Why should you pine like the ignorant, being bewildered in the illusions of son and others who are not your Self? What is this body which is dull and inert? Who is that ‘you’ which, on account of this body, is drowned amidst pleasures and pains and is ever chafing therein without the least avail? Truly a wondrous riddle is it? You have not cognized these diversified things in their true state of unity. While the self-shining Brahman, which is non-dual and true, is pervading everywhere, this painful and illusory Māyā, though uncreate, yet manifests itself. Like a crystal which, though tinged by the five colors, is yet unaffected by them, you should perform all actions by associating with them and yet be untainted by the desires therein.” So said at great length Ṛṣi Vasiṣṭha.

Vālmīki said: “Oh Baradvāja, hearken to what passed between Śrī Rāma replete with good qualities and with his heart like a full-blown lotus and Ṛṣi Vasiṣṭha.” Rāma remarked thus: “Really passing all belief. How is it possible for the universe to be affected with manifold pains through this illusory Māyā, like a series of hills bound and crushed by the filament of a lotus? I can rather believe a straw to assume the density of adamant than this universe to become concreted into its present shape, through the power of Māyā which is unreal. Still another doubt has flashed across my brain. Whence the pains of King Lavaṇa previously mentioned by thee.”

Lavaṇa’s mental Yajña

Vasiṣṭha answered his queries thus: “As Lavaṇa performed actions through a stainless mind, his body did not share in their fruits. This King was one day spending his time solitarily in his pleasure garden and then began to fall into the following profound reverie. He thought of performing mentally the Rājasūya ((This is a sacrifice done by emperors as a mark of their undisputed sovereignty over the whole world.)) Yajña which his ancestor, Harischandra had done with his physical body. Through his Saṁkalpa, he willed the existence of ploughs and other utensils and things necessary for Yajña and entering the place of Yajña according to Vedic recitals and observances, appointed and worshipped Munis for the same. Then rearing up a large fire and having invoked the Devas through the chanting of Vedic Mantras, he conducted the worship of Devas, Tapasvins [ascetics] and Brahmins for one year by feeding them and justly distributing to them all his wealth. Thus did he conclude his Yajña and awake, from his intense reverie, to find the night approaching. Therefore you should gather from this episode that it is the mind alone which brings on pleasures or pains to itself and enjoys them through its excessive inclination towards any single object.

Now I will here supplement to you some information about Śāmbarika, the Siddha. When he appeared before the King Lavaṇa seated in a conclave of his courtiers, he deluded the King with his Indrajāla and then disappeared. I formed one of the group and witnessed all these things. Being questioned as to the mysterious disappearance of this Siddha by the powerful King and courtiers as well as others, I dived into my heart to probe into the three periods of time and gave the following explanation: ‘Oh Rāma, as it is a rule that all persons who perform Rājasūya Yajña have to under go dire sufferings for a period of twelve years, Lavaṇa had to suffer from his merited suffering after the completion of his mental Yajña. So it was that Indra sent a messenger of his to afflict the King with pains. This celestial messenger assumed the guise of a Siddha, meted out rare pains to the King and departed back to his realm.’”

Jñāna and Ajñāna

“Well, Oh Rāmachandra, I have to impart to thee here some piece of instructive information.

There are two states Jñāna and Ajñāna. Each of them is septenary in its nature. Both these paths or states correlate with one another. They are also mutually inter-dependent. Infinite are the sub-divisions of paths, which overlap one another in the septenary ((This corroborates the Theosophical doctrine of the septenary division.)) divisions of both these states. The Jñāna path which enables one to cognize perceptively the one Reality is Mokṣa, whereas the other, which makes men detract from the one Reality and identify ‘I’ with their bodies, etc., is bondage. Thus briefly have I described to thee these two states.

Now about the leading characteristics that go to differentiate a person who has cognized the one Reality from another who has not. Those are immovably fixed in the Jñāna Reality, the eternal Absolute Sat, who have conquered all passions, anger and delusions, but in the case of those who are not truly illuminated, they will be but the slaves of their passions, etc. The intelligence of one who dotes on the body and its organs, leads him but off the track of the one Reality. The intelligence of men which makes them swerve from the path of Ātmic Reality, is itself Moha or delusion. There is really no other than this, which deserves the name of Moha, in all the three periods. (The one) Reality can be defined to be that Jñāna which exists without Saṁkalpa, in a state intermediate between the conception of an object and that of another. This Jñāna is devoid of fancies and fluctuation and of the Vṛtti-Jñāna of Svapna, the dreaming state, or the Ajñāna of Suṣupti, the dreamless sleeping state. That non-fluctuating certainty of mind, wherein it is of the nature of bliss and when all the conceptions of the identification of ‘I’ with the body, as well as all differences between Jīvātma and Paramātma (the two Selfs) are annihilated, is the true nature of Ātma-jñāna.”

The seven Ajñāna States

“Now listen to a detailed explanation of the seven states of Ajñāna, I gave out before. They are called Bindu-Jāgrat, Jāgrat, Mahā-Jāgrat, Jāgrat-Svapna, Svapna, Svapna-Jāgrat and Suṣupti. These seven different states do interpenetrate one another and receive different appellations. As the one Jñāna, which is nameless and stainless, is the substratum and the generating Bindu (or the seed) of all those which pass under the names and actions of Manas, Jīva and others evolving and flourishing, hence the first state is called Bindu-Jāgrat. This is the first or primary state. After the incipient manifestation of Jīva, the feeble conception of the differences of ‘I’ and ‘he’ and ‘mine and thine’ which arise then, they not having existed in it before, is the second or upper Jāgrat state. Then the third state is induced, when, after repeated births, the conceptions of the heterogeneity of man and the universe do concrete in the individual. Jāgrat-Svapna is that state in which the mind holds undisputed sovereignty over the things of the world in the Jāgrat state, through previous effects, and overpowered by such objects, whether seen or unseen before, revels in delight in them. This Svapna state is enjoyed in the Jāgrat or waking state and is of various kinds, through the experience of various delusions, such as the misconceptions of water in a mirage, silver in mother-of-pearl, two moons and others. Then in the fifth state of pure Svapna, a review is made of the innumerable events which one passes through in a moment as if in a dream or reverie, and the individual remembers them in his normal Jāgrat state. The sixth state is Svapna-Jāgrat in which one in the waking state, in trying to recollect things long past, has that Svapna consciousness, which makes the past things to be clearly in recollection now, not as in Svapna but as in the Jāgrat state. A Jīva after crossing these six states, reaches the Suṣupti state in which its intelligence, finds all these Avasthās (states) to be but inert and beset with sore pains. All the worlds will seem to be (or are) generated out of and perish in the mist of Māyā in these Avasthās or states. These seven states of Ajñāna have countless ramifications, each being divided a hundred-fold. Thus are the seven Ajñāna-Bhūmikas (or states).”

The seven Jñāna states

“Now hear of the seven Jñāna-Bhūmikas. Disputants hold to infinite divisions of these Jñāna states. In my opinion I prefer to classify them thus under a septenary head. The cognition of the real nature of these Jñāna states is Ātma-jñāna. The goal of all these is the imperishable Nirvāṇa. The seven stages are Śubechchā, (spiritual longing after the bliss given out in the Vedas), Vichāraṇa (enquiry therein) Thanumānasī, (the melting of the mind in enquiry), Sattvāpatti, (the passage of the mind in Truth) Asaṁśakti, (being without Saṁkalpa), Padārtha-bhāvanā (knowledge of Truth), and Turya. Persons who have known these states will never welter in the mind of delusions. As Mokṣa arises therefrom, there will be an end of all pains. Of what avail to us is the wretched Moha? That desire which ever arises in one to enjoy directly the Jñāna- essence through the path of indifference to objects after a study of Ātma-jñāna Śāstras and association with the knowers of Brahman is Śubechchhā. The second or Vichāraṇā is the mastery of the good qualities of the wise and of Ātmic contemplation with the rise of spiritual desires in one. When after these two states are fully developed in him, he abandons the natural desires and his mind is concentrated on one object at its will, then it (the mind) is rendered lean like Tanu (fine thread) and the third stage is reached. All desires being eliminated from the mind through the above three processes, Tattva-jñāna is developed and this is the fourth state of Truth. Beyond these is the fifth state when he disconnects himself from all Saṁkalpas by merging into the blissful enjoyment of true Jñāna without association with objects. When these five states are fully developed in an individual, he is drowned in the heavenly bliss of Ātma-jñāna and then he loses all affinities for objects. After the ripening of these five states and the development of quiescence through merging into one’s own Self of Ātma-jñāna, all perception of objects, external and internal, is lost and the person, if at all he has any perception of objects, has it only through sheer external compulsion. This is the state called Padārtha-bhāvanā. Then the Turya, the seventh state is reached, when, having rendered objective the hitherto latent Ātma-jñāna, he firmly stays in his own Self, having completely divested himself of all conceptions of heterogeneity which arise through his experiences on earth. This is the spiritual path of the stainless Jīvan-muktas. Above this Turya state of Jīvanmuktas, is the Turyatīta ((The state beyond the fourth.)) state of Videha-muktas. This state is one that can be attained only by those Mahātmas (great souls) who have known their own Self through Ātma-jñāna.

Such Jīvanmuktas as have reached this imperishable Turya state, will never be affected by the pairs. They will automatically perform karmas at the instance of their disciples or others, simply to maintain their body; and like a person in brown study or just awake from sleep, they will not be the actors of their present karmas, though performing them and will enjoy Nirvāṇic bliss. These Jñāna Bhūmikas can be cognized only by those who have fully developed Jñāna. There is no doubt that if a person masters these seven states, he becomes an emancipated person whether he animates beasts full of Ajñāna, whether he conforms to the worldly observances or not, or whether he is associated with body or dies.

Tattva-jñāna is the release from the trammels of one’s own mind. Such a release alone leads to the attainment of Mokṣa. If the illusions of the world are considered as unreal as a mirage in a desert, then the Ajñāna in the man will bid adieu to him. If this Avidyā or ignorance be considered unreal, then it will be annihilated. Those transcendentally holy personages who have cognized all the true Jñāna states through Samādhi which leads to the realization of their own Ātma, do truly deserve the worship and meditation of all. Those who have subjugated their long standing foes of the sensual organs and have reached thereby the supreme state in which they are reverenced by all and do regard, as insignificant, the position of even Devendra and emperors are the knowers of these seven states. But those who have not so attained these septenary states are simply drowned in the ocean of births. The proper means to subjugate the mind is Jñāna or the development of spiritual wisdom. And it is done only through the path of (the realization of) these Jñāna Bhūmikas. Without the aid of these transcendent Jñāna Bhūmikas, the noble Brahmic state can never be attained. That Self-shining principle is non-dual which has not the heterogeneity of conceptions such as thou, I, or one self or another, etc., which is differenceless, stainless or causeless; which is the surpriseless bliss, the quiescent Jñāna and the one, without destruction, name, highness or lowness, being, or non-being, beginning or end, affinities, positive or negative (attributes), diversity, light, Jñāna (wisdom) or ignorance or any like, which is in Chidākāśa, all pervading, the all, non-existent (to us) above the reach of Manas and speech, the bliss of bliss and the Plenum of all bereft of all desires. This is that Brahman to which you can reach, through the septenary Bhūmikas.

Now hearken, Oh Rāma, to the marvelous effects of Māyā. After the great King Lavaṇa had recovered from his trance, he saw, through his mirror of mind, the forests on the slopes of the Vindhya Mountains, and consulted with his courtiers as to whether it was possible for him to go and see those sites through his physical vision and witness (if true) the events enacted therein; and being resolved upon trying the experiment, he started with all his suite towards the south and came in sight of the Vindhya hills, like a King bent upon extending his conquests in all directions. He roved about in all quarters except the north but all in vain. But all at once (in the northern direction), he saw the forest he had lived in formerly, as if his thoughts had taken a tangible form.

There he scrutinizingly observed the several places and towns in the forest he had passed in as Nīcha (outcaste) which were like unto the city of Yama. To his great surprise, the King of Kings observed, without fail, all the huts of Nīchas of both sexes who were tenanting them then; and his heart began to give way under the grief caused by his old associations. At this juncture, a troop of old Nīcha dames turned upon the spot with their minds full of racking pains, eyes trickling down tears, and bodies emaciated to the last degree; and one of the group, unable to overpower her grief, opened her mouth wide agape and gasping, gave vent to a long and loud wailing, wherein she thus recounted the incidents connected with her children and others who had died on the previous date: ‘Oh my darlings, who have forsaken my lap and embrace to only perish in some foreign land, whether have you gone through your bad Karmas? How distressed will you be at the sight of strangers faces? Oh my daughter, my daughter, when will you too return to alleviate my scorching fire of grief with the cool embrace of your arms bedecked with scarlet garlands. Oh my son-in-law of a King, who came to us through our previous Tapas, like a treasure newly discovered, and led to the hymeneal altar my daughter after having abandoned his harem containing ladies like unto Lakṣmī herself, have you forgotten us? Will you again present yourself before us with your moon-like face in this very spot? Or are you estranged from us through any paltry venial offences committed by my daughter like Lakṣmī? Being caught in the snare of Karmas in the great ocean of dire births, you abandoned your regality, accepted my daughter’s hand and degraded yourself, a lord of men, into the most degraded condition of an outcaste through such an alliance. Our lives of rebirths flash like lightning and are as impermanent. Dire indeed are the decrees of destiny.’ So saying she wailed more and more.

The King, having heard her weep, told his handmaids to go and pacify the old dame and return with her. The old lady having approached him, he accosted her thus ‘Who are you? who is your daughter? And who are your children? Relate to me all without omitting any incident.’ At which she replied: ‘In this hamlet of Pariahs lived an outcaste who was my lord. Through him, I begat a daughter. She lived as wife with a king who came to this forest like another Devendra. Through her good fate from a long time, she bore three children to him and lived happily; to make amends for it, the fates became perverse and my children were subjected to misfortunes and died. After my daughter and others were living happily for a long time, the clouds became relentless and shed not a drop of water; there was a drought all throughout the land and the outcastes flew in all directions and lay dead in piles of carcasses jet black as Yama. We have survived all these shocks only to be alone, and to surfer all the more.’ Whereupon the king, wearing lance, eyed his ministers with great marvel and ordered them to furnish the Nīcha ladies with all necessary things, relieve them of their pains and conduct them to his kingdom. Having returned to his city, he reflected over the situation and becoming convinced of the seemingly real nature of the universe created by the potent power of Māyā, he sought initiation into the mysteries of Brahman at our hands and attained quiescence in it. Oh Rāmachandra of fate bounty, this great Māyā generates such dire delusions as are indeed uncrossable. Through the power of this Māyā, Sat will appear as Asat and vice-versa.”

So said Vasiṣṭha when Rāma questioned him thus “Oh guru of my race, how came the things enacted in the regions of the perturbed mind to objectivize themselves in the physical world?” To which the Ṛṣi replied thus “You will be able to better understand the heterogeneous manifestations of Māyā, later on, in the story of Gādhi, wherein Māyā is shown as producing diverse objects. Like the coincidence of the fall of Palmyra fruit on the perching of a crow thereon, the wise of great knowledge say that the mind will merge unto itself through Vāsanās. Therefore King Lavaṇa saw as true, on the subsequent day, that illusion which Śāmbarika, the Siddha imposed on the previous day through his Indra-Jāla on him (the king) as a Chaṇḍāla (outcaste) and so on. That illusion which was wrought on the king’s brains in his Jāgrat-Svapna state, the Chaṇḍālas, living on the slopes of the hills, saw to be real through their own intelligence. Now what happened was this. That which dawned on the king’s mind (as Jāgrat- Svapna) was reflected on those of the Chandalas as Jāgrat for waking reality; and that which happened among the Chandalas again reflected itself on the mind of the king (as the same Jāgrat reality). If this is the work of Māyā, who will be able to gauge its tremendous powers? It is only to Jñāna light that all the visible Māyāvic objects owe their existence in this world. Likewise are all objects observed through the five organs, non-existent except through Jñāna. Jñāna-Ātma occupies a state intermediate between the knower and the known. Hence Mokṣa may be said to be that state wherein are not to be found the objects, their knower or the knowledge, but which is yet the source of all these three. May you be ever impartite in that Chidānanda wherein are unified ‘that,’ the Brahman and ‘thou,’ the Kūṭastha, which is the neutral state of the mind when it passes from one object to another, and which is without name, intelligence or inertness. May you rest in your innate self in an illuminated state, having enquired thoroughly through your subtle mind and having eradicated all the conceptions of your mind which makes you falsely believe yourself to be under the trammels of Saṁsāra.

Now, Rāma, you should rend asunder, through enormous efforts on your part, the long rope of Vāsanās tied to the vessels (of men) whirled on water lifts. All the universes with their heterogeneity, though really Ātma-jñāna, shine as worlds only through our illusory mind like the blueness in the sky which is really non-existent. If with the extinction of the pains-producing Saṁkalpa, the mind is also destroyed, then will the thick frost of Moha (delusion) affecting us from remote periods dissipate itself. Then like an unobscured sky in the autumnal season, Brahman alone will shine resplendent, blissful, imperishable, non-dual, formless and without birth or death.”